‘Skyrim,’ ‘Fallout 4’ to offer user mods and PS4 Pro support
Bethesda and Sony have kissed and made up. Who benefits from that corporate make-out session? You, because mod support is en route for Fallout 4 and Skyrim Special Edition, according to a post on Bethesda.net. Skyrim mods will show up first, but there isn’t a timetable for when that will actually happen.
“We are excited to finally get modding to our PlayStation fans who have supported us for so long,” the post reads. “Modding has been an important part of our games for over 10 years, and we hope to do even more in the coming year for all our players, regardless of platform.”
However despite that ambiguity, when the remaster launches on October 28th it will run at native 4K resolution on the PlayStation 4 Pro — just a bit ahead of the console’s November 10th release date. If you’re planning to roam the irradiated Commonwealth in Fallout 4 with all the benefits PS4 Pro offers, you’re going to have to wait a bit. Bethesda teases that 4K rendering along with better lighting and graphics are planned for Fallout 4, but that those won’t arrive until work is finished on Skyrim.
If you were hoping for dragon-replacing, flying My Little Ponies, it sounds like your luck’s run out: Any mods can only use pre-existing assets from the games. Meaning, you can only make stuff with what’s already available in the base game. It effectively neuters a vast majority of either game’s more hilarious user creations like wrestler Macho Man Randy Savage replacing Fallout 4’s towering Deathclaw enemies, among others.
Source: Bethesda
CIA claims it can predict some social unrest up to 5 days ahead
Back in March 2015, the CIA chief began setting up a new office, the Directorate of Digital Innovation, to integrate the latest tech into the agency’s data-gathering workflow along with boosting the country’s cyber defense. According to its director, the department has helped the CIA as a whole improve its “anticipatory intelligence.” Speaking at the Next Tech event yesterday, Deputy Director for Digital Innovation Andrew Hallman noted that, in some instances, they’ve been able to forecast social unrest and societal instability in other countries by as much as three to five days out.
That “anticipatory intelligence” has been boosted through a combination of algorithms and analytics to predict the flow of illicit goods or extremists, according to Defense One. Deep and machine learning makes sense of seemingly disparate data, helping analysts see patterns to anticipate national security threats. And then they apply it to the world.
“What we’re trying to do within a unit of my directorate is leverage what we know from social sciences on the development of instability, coups and financial instability, and take what we know from the past six or seven decades and leverage what is becoming the instrumentation of the globe,” Hallman said during yesterday’s event.
They don’t just pore through the intelligence community’s own proprietary information, either. The Digital Innovation department has been using more and more open source data sets with specialists who can combine public and agency information to draw more nuanced conclusions, which CIA director John Brennan called a tremendous advantage.
Combined with their increasing surveillance of social media, the agency is clearly looking to gobble up as much information as possible. With tech’s best data-parsing tools, they hope to get days of lead time to prepare for riots and social decay across the globe. But how successful they are and how far ahead they can accurately anticipate it is uncertain.
Source: Defense One
‘Pokémon Go’ will add catch bonuses to make the grind worthwhile
As Niantic Labs keeps tweaking things to hold onto its Pokémon Go player base, it has revealed another new feature coming to the augmented reality game. Currently, player activities like catching Pokémon can level them up towards earning medals that toss off points, but not much else. Soon, there will be a catch bonus for earned medals that level up based on the type of Pokémon caught.
It seems like a way to make low-level grinding (perhaps with that $35 Pokémon Go Plus dongle) pay off visibly and as the post title puts it, increase the odds of catching rare Pokémon. The only problem? At least judging by the responses, players are really looking for ways to improve other parts of the game, like tracking monsters, or battling and training in gyms. Niantic previously said it would “rebalance” training battles, but that is apparently also still in the works.
Source: Pokémon Go
How to search Safari tabs in iOS 10 – CNET
In its latest operating system, Apple has lifted the limit on the number of tabs you can have open in Safari. The previous limit was 36 tabs in iOS 9. With iOS 10, you can, in theory, open an unlimited number of tabs for your browsing pleasure. In practice, the limit is somewhat less than infinity because your device’s processor and memory will eventually surrender, but you can definitely open many more than 36.
Keeping track of dozens of open tabs on a desktop computer is difficult, and it’s even more of a chore on an iPhone or iPad, devices with smaller screens and no physical keyboards. Thankfully, in iOS 10 there’s a way to search for a specific tab.
The feature is somewhat hidden. To perform a keyword search of your Safari tabs, tap the button in the lower-right corner to view all of your open tabs and then rotate your iPhone or iPad into landscape mode. You’ll see thumbnails of your open tabs and a search box in the upper-left corner. For reasons that escape me, the search box is not present when your iOS 10 device is in portrait mode.
Enlarge Image
Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
When you search this way, Safari searches only the text in the title of each tab; the body of the Web page is not searched. While this arrangement means you need to remember the title of the page you want to access (or at least one of the words in it), it also means that search results are returned instantly.
For more, learn how to close all tabs at once in Safari and 22 other hidden features of iOS 10 and check out our complete guide to iOS 10.
Asus ZenBook 3 review – CNET
The Good Powerful Core i7 processor in a slim, portable package with an excellent touchpad. A helpful USB-C mini-dock is included.
The Bad The 12.5-inch display is locked at 1,920×1,080 resolution, and it isn’t a touchscreen. Lots of extra bloatware. Battery life isn’t as good as the MacBook. Other similarly configured systems cost less.
The Bottom Line The Asus ZenBook 3 mimics many of the best features of Apple’s 12-inch MacBook, but in a Windows version with a more powerful processor.
Visit manufacturer site for details.
When is a MacBook not a MacBook? There’s a long history of PC makers selling computers that have a striking resemblance to one of Apple’s laptops. Sometimes this is in the form of a subtle homage, other times, it’s a literal attack of the clones. We’d even previously taken to calling one of Dell’s older designs the “DellBook Air.”
After Apple released the very minimalist 12-inch MacBook laptop in 2015, we saw a handful of similar designs, with Core M processors and ultra-shallow keyboards, and the Samsung Ativ Book 9 came closest to mirroring it.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Now there’s a new contender for most MacBook-like, called the Asus ZenBook 3. It’s a close-to-total clone, at least on the outside. But under the aluminum chassis, this ambitious, slim laptop trades midtier Intel Core M processors for a low-voltage Core i7 CPU.
But, the ZenBook 3 also shares the MacBook’s weaknesses, specifically a very shallow keyboard that’s not conducive to long-form typing, and an extremely limited set of connection options, which consists of a single USB-C port and a headphone jack (no one is taking the headphone jacks out of laptops, yet).
This might seem like too small a laptop, with too many compromises, to be an effective tool for either work or leisure, but the design grows on you. In the case of the 12-inch MacBook, I decided after a year of on-and-off use that it was actually one of my favorite laptops to use, because of its extreme portability and overall ease of use.
The ZenBook 3 next to the Apple MacBook.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The same could be said of the ZenBook 3, but with a few important caveats. This Windows version of essentially the same design is missing a few advantages that the Apple version has. The touchpad, while good by ultraportable Windows laptop standards, can’t come close to the responsiveness and multitouch gesture integration of any MacBook. That’s the home-field advantage Apple has in closely designing both the computer hardware and computer operating system, including the just-released MacOS Sierra.
The second advantage Apple has is a singular focus on battery life, and the current version of the 12-inch MacBook (that system’s second iteration) runs about 3.5 hours longer per charge than the ZenBook 3. That’s an important consideration when toting around a superslim laptop that might very well travel with you all day long for start-and-stop sessions at meetings, in coffee shops or on airplanes.
This configuration of the ZenBook 3 has a low-voltage Intel Core i7-7500 processor, along with 16GB of RAM and a sizable 512GB of PCIe SSD storage. That configuration, when it’s available later this fall, should cost $1,600 in the US. International Asus configurations often differ slightly, but that works out to £1,229 or AU$2,085. A better bang for your buck may be the $1,100 configuration (£845, AU$1,433), with a Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.
ZenBook 3
| $1,600 |
| 12.5-inch 1,920 x 1,080 screen |
| 2.7GHz Intel Core i7-7500U |
| 16GB DDR3 SDRAM 1866MHz |
| 128MB Intel HD Graphics 620 |
| 512GB SSD |
| 802.11ac wireless, Bluetooth 4.0 |
| Windows 10 Pro (64-bit) |
The one spec that you can’t change, and one of the ZenBook 3’s main letdowns, is the standard 1,920×1,080 screen resolution, which is the only option available on this 12.5-inch non-touch display. Premium laptops, even with smaller sub-13-inch screens often hit 2,560×1,440 or higher.
There’s a good case to be made for the very similarly configured Razer Blade Stealth, another slim laptop with a 12.5-inch screen. The newly refreshed Blade Stealth (full review coming soon) has the same Core i7-7500 CPU, and can be configured with similar RAM and hard drive specs. But, its display is a 2,560×1,440 touch screen, and our test configuration (Core i7/16GB RAM/256GB SSD) is $1,250 in the US. My biggest knock against that system is the dated-looking extrawide bezel surrounding the screen.
The very similar Razer Blade Stealth, which has a higher screen resolution, but a wide bezel around the display.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Of course, you could also just get a 12-inch MacBook, starting at $1,300 (£1,050 and AU$1,800). It’s a fun, fast-feeling little computer, with a higher-res screen and new MacOS features such as Siri and a universal clipboard that shares content between the laptop and an iPhone. But, its Core m-series CPU isn’t as powerful, and it tops out at 8GB of RAM, rather than the 16GB found here.
LG BP350 review – CNET
The Good The LG BP350 is a budget Blu-ray player with image quality that’s basically the same as more costly models. It offers the most popular streaming services including Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Video.
The Bad The player is very slow at loading discs and streaming services. Lacks a number of connection options offered by competitors including Ethernet and coaxial digital audio.
The Bottom Line The inexpensive LG BP350 is capable of fine image quality, but its sluggish load times keep it from earning our recommendation.
Blu-ray players are so inexpensive now, and their image quality so similar, that you might be tempted to just buy the cheapest one and call it a day. But there are still advantages to shopping around and maybe paying a couple of bucks extra.
The LG BP350 is a 2015 model that is still available in the US for $79, the UK for £66 and Australia for AU$159. It’s one of the cheapest Blu-ray disc-spinners around, and it comes with hefty compromises. It’s one of the slowest players we’ve tested at loading both discs and streaming videos, and it’s missing all but the most basic connections. If you only want to play Blu-rays and very occasionally watch Netflix, this will do the job. But we think it’s worth paying a bit more for something like the $80 Sony BDP-S3700 or the $100 Samsung BD-J9500.
Design and features
Ty Pendlebury/CNET
With its cross-hatched finish the BP350 looks more like a lemon zester than a Blu-ray player. A power button, a tiny eject button and a USB port adorn the front panel, while ’round the back there’s just a power input and an HDMI port. That’s a sparse rear even compared to other players at the price — usually you can expect at least an Ethernet port and a coaxial digital port as well. At least it has Wi-Fi.
There’s a small selection of the most-popular streaming services onboard, namely Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, Spotify and Pandora. While that selection is dwarfed by the dozens on offer from Sony players, at least they’re all preloaded on the LG, so you don’t need to trawl through lists to find new services.
Google Pixel XL vs Nexus 6P first look
Google has now taken the wraps off the Pixel XL, leaving behind the Nexus family in favor of a new direction that sees Google more directly compete against Samsung and Apple in the smartphone hardware game. The new Pixel XL brings a lot to the table, but how does it compare to its predecessor?
Let’s take a look as we put the the Pixel XL up against the Huawei-built Nexus 6P in this quick comparison.
Aesthetically speaking, the Pixel XL and Nexus 6P have little in common in common, other than perhaps the use of metallic unibody designs and the circular fingerprint scanner found on the rear.
The Google Pixel XL offers up a unibody metal design that features a unique area of glass of the rear that starts around the fingerprint reader and stretches to the top. A subtle “G” can be found at the bottom, with no oversized logos or markings in sight. The front of the phone is completely devoid of buttons, with just a single speaker at the top middle, a sensor below, and the front-facing camera found to the left. Below the display is a pretty sizable chin, where honestly we would have liked to have seen a secondary speaker.
See also: Google Pixel and Pixel XL hands on34
Turning to the Nexus 6P, the Nexus is a bit larger and heavier than the Pixel XL, but it is a bit slimmer for what it is worth. Just like the Pixel, the phone is a unibody metallic device, but instead of the partially glass back, the 6P instead offers a unique camera “wedge.” Otherwise, the back is pretty plain with simple Nexus branding and a circular fingerprint scanner in the middle. One area that the Nexus 6P stands triumphantly over the Pixel is the front-side, thanks to its dual speaker configuration.
At the end of the day, both phones take an otherwise ordinary metallic design and add a little extra flair. With the 6P, it’s the camera bump. With the Pixel, it’s a half-glass backing. We suspect the Pixel’s design will be met with split reception, similar to the 6P before it, but really it comes down to personal preference as to which design is more appealing.
Both the Pixel XL and Nexus 6P offer QHD AMOLED displays, though this time around Google has shrunk the size down to 5.5-inches from the 5.7-inch size of the 6P. The smaller size means the Pixel XL will have slightly higher PPI, but overall you’re looking at pretty similar viewing experiences with all the characteristics you’d expect from an AMOLED panel.
Performance favors the newer phone, which is expected. The Pixel XL features the brand new Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor, paired with 4GB RAM. Of course, the Nexus 6P is no slouch with its Snapdragon 810 and 3GB RAM, either. Though the processing package isn’t the latest or greatest anymore, it is more than capable of providing a great Android experience.
If you’re looking for plenty of storage options, the Pixel XL will probably disappoint a little, as your choices are between either 32GB or 128GB. In contrast, the 6P offered 32, 64, and 128GB configurations. Neither phone offers expandable memory, but that’s pretty much expected from Google. It is worth noting that the Pixel XL does include free unlimited storage of videos and pictures at full resolution.
Battery life will likely be fairly similar between these two phones, with both offering 3450mAh battery configurations. Both phones also feature quick charging and USB type-C. Whether the Snapdragon 821 offers any noticeable battery optimizations over the Snapdragon 810 remains unseen, but we’ll be sure to put the phone through its paces once we get our review unit.
The Nexus 6P completely raised the bar on what to expect from the Nexus family in terms of camera performance. Offering less megapixels in favor of larger ones, the 6P offered a 12MP shooter with f/2.0 aperture that prioritized low light performance. The end result was a pretty solid camera overall.
See also: Shootout: How good is the new Pixel XL camera?50
A similar story plays out with the Pixel XL, which features a 12.MP shooter with f/2.0 aperture and 1.55 μm sized pixels. On paper, this is a very similar configuration to the 6P. While we won’t be able to definitively say how the cameras compare until we’ve done a full review, it is worth noting that DxOmark has rated the Pixel XL with an 89 — beating out the Nexus 6P, Galaxy S7, and the iPhone 7 and receiving the highest mark from the company to date.
Like the Nexus 6P, at the heart of the Pixel XL is a stock Android experience. That said, Google has been less shy about adding on special features this time around. Out of the box the Pixel XL features Android 7.1 Nougat with the new Pixel launcher preloaded. Swiping up from the dock brings up the app drawer and circles are more the motif for this launcher. Another Google G is in plain view at the top, opening up a familiar Google Now search bar.
But the real star of the show is Google Assistant, now baked right into the OS. Previously found within the Allo application, the latest iteration offers a greatly improved experience over what you’d find with Google Now. Asking it contextual questions yields clear, accurate answers. For example, I asked Assistant to play me wrestler TJ Perkins’ entrance from WWE. Once I said the request, Youtube appeared and played the video in question.
The fast, fluid stock experience is alive and well on the Nexus 6P as well, with Android 7.0 Nougat currently being the latest version on offer. While the experience is largely identical, Pixel Launcher and the baked in Google Assistant are not part of the formula here. While it’s possible these new features will come to the Nexus family in some form down the road, for now these special extras remain something you’ll only be able to experience with a Pixel.
In many ways, the Pixel XL and Nexus 6P share a lot of the same DNA, despite offering different looks and different overall approaches. After all, they both run mostly stock Android software and have been built with Google’s influence. Still, the Pixel represents a big leap forward with Google not just influencing the software and hardware, but instead fully controlling it.
Pricing is another area where the two phones greatly differ. While the Nexus 6P could be had for just $399, the Google Pixel XL’s premium specs and features start at $769. It remains a matter of debate whether the Pixel XL offers enough improvements to justify that price hike, but it’s clear that Google wants to send a very different message with the Pixel family than it did with the Nexus line before it.
See also: Google Pixel & Pixel XL vs the competition101
The Pixel XL is an evolution of the Nexus formula, a device where Google doesn’t just control the software experience, but has equal power over the hardware. For Google fans looking for a phone built from the ground up with Google’s intentions and full blessing, it doesn’t get any better than that.
Theranos is closing its labs and Wellness Centers
Theranos is making some big changes going forward, company chief Elizabeth Holmes has revealed in an open letter. While the embattled blood-testing firm isn’t closing shop completely, it will shut down its clinical labs and Wellness Centers, as well as let 340 out of its 790 employees go. The layoffs will affect people who’ve been with the company for years, working for its establishments in Arizona, California and Pennsylvania. Going forward, Theranos will focus on the 95-pound device it debuted in August called “miniLab,” which she said can detect diseases, including Zika, with a drop of your blood.
Holmes said:
“Our ultimate goal is to commercialize miniaturized, automated laboratories capable of small-volume sample testing, with an emphasis on vulnerable patient populations, including oncology, pediatrics, and intensive care.”
A team within the company is already working on securing FDA clearances, partnerships and pursuing publication in scientific journals, the open letter added.
Theranos, once a promising company that reached a $9 billion valuation, promised blood test results with just a fingerprick. A series of Wall Street Journal reports, however, changed everything. They revealed that the company barely used its proprietary technology, relying mostly on traditional blood tests instead. Further, a lot of its results turned out to be unreliable and inaccurate that the company had to void two years’ worth of blood test reports.
Several agencies looked into the company’s practices, including the FDA, which found issues with its quality control procedures and the small vials called “nanotainers” it used to store blood samples. Since all these came out, the company’s been on a downward spiral. It lost its partnership with Walgreens, which used to offer its services and served as Theranos’ main source of business. COO and president Sunny Balwani retired, and founder Elizabeth Holmes was banned from running a lab for two years.
Despite all those issues, the company introduced the miniLab, which is different from its older proprietary machine called Edison, at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry in August. The convention’s attendees were expecting Holmes to explain Theranos’ situation and to shed more light on its controversial fingerprick-testing technique. They didn’t expect her to debut a brand new device in the midst of what the company is going through. But she did, and it has now become Theranos’ focus.
Via: Marketwatch
Source: Theranos, The Wall Street Journal
Washington state orders Valve to end ‘Counter-Strike’ gambling
For Washington state, it’s not enough for Valve to distance itself from gun skin gambling in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive — it wants the company to put an end to the practice. The state’s Gambling Commission has ordered Valve to “stop allowing the transfer” of gun skins for gambling through Steam. The gaming giant has until October 14th to explain how it’s obeying Washington gambling laws — if it ignores the request or can’t prove that it’s squeaky-clean, it might face “additional civil or criminal action.”
To the Commission, this is about reining in out-of-control, dangerous behavior. Skin bets represent a “large, unregulated black market” that burns unsuspecting players, Commissioner Chris Stearns says. The regulator is particularly worried about underage gamblers, who don’t face the barriers to entry that they do in the real world. It notes that one site, CSGO Lounge, has made over $1 billion so far this year.
When we reached out to Valve, it reiterated its attempt to separate itself from gambling sites. The developer has sent 40 cease-and-desist notices, it says, and a federal judge recently tossed a lawsuit targeting Valve over the issue. You can read the statement below. However, the company might not have much choice but to step up its response. If the Commission is convinced that Valve is enabling shady gambling, it’s going to crack down — it might not accept Valve’s stance at face value. There’s no indication that the Commission will ban gun skins outright, but it could easily restrict their availability.
“Back in July we posted about third-party gambling sites (http://store.steampowered.com/news/22883/). Our position has not changed and so far we’ve sent cease and desist notices to over 40 sites. On a somewhat related note, a federal judge in Washington recently dismissed a case associated with this subject where Valve was named as a defendant (https://www.law360.com/classaction/articles/848361/game-platform-beats-suit-over-teenage-gambling-).”
Via: Polygon
Source: Washington State Gambling Commission (PDF)
Reuters: Twitter seeks a sale decision by October 27th
Twitter’s flat growth and falling profits made for a dim outlook until a few weeks ago when sources close to the social media platform said that Google, Salesforce and other tech luminaries were looking to buy it. The company’s stock jumped 20 percent that day, and speculation has continued as to which would be the best buyer. But it seems time is of the essence: Twitter wants to conclude sale deliberations before October 27th, the day it reports its third quarter earnings, sources told Reuters.
Binding acquisition offers are due in two weeks, the sources noted. Salesforce is in the running, which could mine Twitter’s data for business intel, while Disney might make a bid to use its social media platform to boost outreach for its programming. While Google was considered a prominent potential buyer, separate sources told Recode that the search giant won’t make a bid. Apple isn’t likely to enter the fray either.
But it’s possible that even Twitter isn’t solid on what Twitter wants to do. Bloomberg reported today that three head executives are split: CEO Jack Dorsey wants to remain independent, co-founder Ev Williams wants to sell, with chief financial officer Anthony Noto stepped in to seize more control of the company amid Dorsey’s passive leadership.
But this whole process might not even result in a sale, Reuters’ sources cautioned. Regardless, concluding negotiations with any buyer before October 27th is an incredibly aggressive deadline. At the very least, it will likely define where Twitter is going before it has to report what is likely its 12th consecutive quarter without producing net profit as a public company.
Source: Reuters
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